College students and laziness
I've been teaching college classes for more than five years now. I have taught freshmen, seniors, grads, and summer exchange students. In that time I have seen the range of students from the over prepared to the barely paying attention. Part of the problem I know is our public education system, or more precisely the system of the standardized test. When students come to college they have been trained to study and take tests. Their teachers have given them step by step instructions on how to complete and assignment so that they pass, get good grades go to college and the teacher keeps their job, and the school keeps their funding. Then they come to me. I give them direction and freedom. Complete this project with any of these tools. And then you see it, the deer in head lights look. The "Please give me a step by step guide on how to do this." The generation that has grown up with the greatest access to knowledge some how has the hardest time finding out information on their own.
The other possibility is that they are just lazy. Now I am great procrastinator myself. I will put things off, and think about it (which according to some TED talks I just listened to is a good thing). But I always get things done on time, even if I am doing it at the last minute. Yet, as I sit here writing this, I am looking to see who completed their homework for today's class. There were two parts to the homework. One was to record themselves for their podcast which we will edit in class today. The other was to listen to a podcast and comment on it on our classes Google+ page. There are 15 students in this class which starts in 30 minutes, and only 3 students have commented on it. As a professor, I need to stop and take a breath and lay down the law. Inside, I'm screaming! Come on! It's week one and you can't listen to a podcast and write a short paragraph about it?
When I get into the classroom, I know there will be students that say they didn't understand the assignment or have a question. I'm hoping that this is a first week glitch and we smooth out from here. Well, at least better smooth out. Most of these students are seniors and they are going to be entering the workforce next year. So now it is time for me to put that game face on, go in there and get through to them that they need to do this or they will fail this class.
And if by some chance, a student finds this, please, just do your work.
The other possibility is that they are just lazy. Now I am great procrastinator myself. I will put things off, and think about it (which according to some TED talks I just listened to is a good thing). But I always get things done on time, even if I am doing it at the last minute. Yet, as I sit here writing this, I am looking to see who completed their homework for today's class. There were two parts to the homework. One was to record themselves for their podcast which we will edit in class today. The other was to listen to a podcast and comment on it on our classes Google+ page. There are 15 students in this class which starts in 30 minutes, and only 3 students have commented on it. As a professor, I need to stop and take a breath and lay down the law. Inside, I'm screaming! Come on! It's week one and you can't listen to a podcast and write a short paragraph about it?
When I get into the classroom, I know there will be students that say they didn't understand the assignment or have a question. I'm hoping that this is a first week glitch and we smooth out from here. Well, at least better smooth out. Most of these students are seniors and they are going to be entering the workforce next year. So now it is time for me to put that game face on, go in there and get through to them that they need to do this or they will fail this class.
And if by some chance, a student finds this, please, just do your work.
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